Startups in the UAE and possibly the rest of the region are soon going to have access to a new fully-regulated exchange, designed to serve as a comprehensive platform for entrepreneurs, institutions, and investors to collaborate. More excitingly, this new exchange will have blockchain technology at its heart, meaning it will have many decentralized aspects to it that will help all stakeholders get rid of the otherwise pesky processes prevalent in comparable traditional platforms.

Launched by Jabbar, a Dubai-based technology investment firm, the new blockchain-powered platform is called Kambio Ventures. Its co-founders -- Hussam Khoury and Samih Toukan -- are the men behind Maktoob.com, which was acquired by Yahoo in 2009.

Note that this is Jabbar’s maiden venture in the realm of blockchain technology. Kambio Ventures will be based out of London once it gets the final regulatory approval.

The company issued a statement saying: “It [Kambio Ventures] will provide an attractive, friendly environment for investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions. Members will be able to leverage expertise, access local know-how and have the ability to dial up or down risk by region, sector and even venture capital firm. It will be an ecosystem that advances exchange members forward through active participation, knowledge-sharing, and access to dedicated local research and resources.”

Key features of Kambio will include (but not limited to):

• Registered startups with multiple finance rounds will be granted dedicated primary markets.

• Startups providing liquidity will be entitled to dedicated secondary market.

• Real-time execution of transparent, fair, and immutable transactions.

• Provision of segregated custody for facilitating secure personal accounts

The privately held, fully-regulated exchange will list all registered startups and provide investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions with primary capital funding and secondary exchange.